AATC: War of the Worlds
by Stevenspielbergwriter02
Summary: Just as the chipmunks and chipettes reach the height of their emotional commitment, a force of evil is poised to destroy all they hold dear. Read and Review!
1. All Gone

**Hello and welcome to my first story, based on the Novel and movie of the same name. I own none of these characters other than Otto.**

**Chapter two: All gone**

**Alvin's POV**

"So that will be two dollars for the soda, "he said, but I didn't hear him. My mind was on other things. I just stared at the floor silently. "I said, that will be two dollars for the soda!" Ogilvy repeated.

This time I heard him. "Oh, okay" I said weakly

Ogilvy took notice of the weakness in my voice. "Is something wrong with you?"

I looked him in the eyes while considering his question, when the ground began shaking violently. Objects began falling off their shelves and you could hear things breaking as they hit the floor, and whole shelves fell over crushed some people. But the shaking didn't stop.

Somehow I managed to slowly make my way out of the store to look around. The shaking didn't seem as bad out there. Suddenly the sky turned orange. I had a moment of déjà vu as I realized the familiarity of this situation when fire literally began raining from the sky. Giant balls of fire fell two or three times a second crashing into the earth like it was a mere pincushion.

They were huge; easily the size of a football field! And they shook the earth making it impossible to stay on your feet. Everyone was falling on their backs or stomachs but kept their heads up trying to remain conscious so they could see what was going on around them. All they remembered before all this was simply walking in a park and now all eighty from what I could see were lying helpless on the ground as hell was literally raining down from the heavens. Half of them were dead in the mere blink of an eye when a giant fire ball landed about twenty yards away. Even from that distance the heat from the blast was so intense that it was scorching my fur.

I looked beyond the park I was lying in. Large buildings were being knocked down by the force of one of these meteor things. It was the worst thing I have ever seen. I saw a hundred story skyscraper with at least five hundred unsuspecting people inside standing tall amongst the haze, and to be suddenly pushed over by a smaller ball that came out of nowhere. I watched it slowly crumple under it's own weight and I could swear I heard people from inside screaming, but the screaming stopped when the building hit the ground with an ear-splitting thud.

I was sure the rest of the city was just like this. Fortunately for those of us that were still alive it ended. Just like that, then and there the ground had stopped shaking,and some people who had recovered were slowly standing up, looking around. Not me. I was on my back, looking at the demented smoke ridden sky. In the distance I could hear the faint sound of a siren going off. I was glad that at least the emergency center was all right.

Suddenly my cell phone began buzzing. I took it out of my pocket and looked at the number on the screen. It said home "Hello?" I answered

"Alvin! Oh, thank God! Listen, what is going on down there? Do you know what just happened?"

It was Otto, our (ugh) babysitter. "I don't was some sort of... explosion," I answered.

"NO SHIT THERE WAS AN EXPLOSION! I mean it's crazy over here. I looked out the window and I could see people on frickin' fire running around and screaming! And on top of that the girls... won't...shut...up!"

"Otto, listen!" I screamed back at him. "Get everybody in the car, and get over here! I in the Barndsall Arts Park, by that shop place called 'Eggs and Random Things'. Hurry!"

There was a click indicating he hung up. I hoped he was hurrying up because I didn't like it here one bit. I looked around at what was left of the city that surrounded the park. Los Angeles was burning and its people were burning along with it.

Suddenly the ground began rumbling again. But instead of looking up to the sky to see if more fireballs were coming like everyone else was, I hopped to my feet and began sprinting behind a rock. I knew what was going to happen next. As I peaked from behind the rock I saw the "fire ball" now completely doused of flame sprouting legs. That's the only way I could describe it.

Three huge metal poles were slowly sprouting from three opposite sides of the thing. Once they were about eighty feet long, it split into a new one at the center of the first which was actually where its joint was. Before it put its new feet on the ground three metal claws emerged from the end of each first poll. And finally the claw-like feet were dug onto the earth.

Using its new legs the tripod itself began elevating from the ground until it was easily sixty feet in the air, and we could see above that the thing had three tentacles dangling from the bottom of the round middle section. All of the tentacles had three claws.

The people around all moved in closer like moths to a flame. It was almost as if the thing was appealing to them. I even saw Ogilvy standing in front of a crowd of people waving a white flag in the breeze. Perhaps he and the others wanted to show those things -whatever they were- that we as a species were intelligent. That we could communicate. Unfortunately communication was aparently not on the tripod's priority list.

The leg was made up of large polls. The one directly connected to the tripod met at about the center of the poll that met the ground leaving twenty or so feet of straight pole sticking up in the air. At the very top of these polls there was a loud click as something small sprouted from each leg. I ducked behind the rock again knowing what was about to happen, not even caring about anyone around me.

Then there was a strange noise, followed by screaming, then more of the noise, then more screaming,and then nothing but a weird noise and more screaming. People were running away as indicated by the two dozen who charged past my rock, pushing each other out of the way to get ahead, and I soon saw why.

A bright green ray came from behind me and turned whatever it met to ashes instantly. People were gone before my eyes, nothing left of them but smolders as were trees, bushes, and anything else that the deadly rays hit. I watched as all of my surroundings began turning to ash, and I wondered whether or not I should run.

_*Flashback*_

I walked down the stairs, eager to see my family again. To see Brittany again. The second I hit the bottom of the stairs the aroma of smoke and spices filled my nose and I breathed it in like fresh air. Theodore and Eleanor were busy cooking breakfast and I just wished it were a little easier to see. Cut onions being cooked on a pan made my eyes watery, and the smoke made it difficult to get around acurately.

When I walked into the dining room I was surprised to see Dave at the table reading the morning newspaper. It wasn't uncommon for him to be reading it at this time of day, but I had no idea how he was able to read well in all this steam and smoke. I didn't even realize he saw me coming.

"Well, good morning, Alvin!" he said.

I froze but said, "Good morning, Dave," back to him.

Hearing my feet coming down the stairs our pitbull/lab mix, Stormy pranced into the room and cuddled next to Dave's chair, letting him rub the side of her belly.

"Did you have a good night's sleep?" he asked looking at me.

"What's for breakfast?" I quickly asked trying to changing the subject.

"Eggs and bacon and... other stuff. It's a long list." answered Dave

''When will it be ready?" I asked

Dave looked unsure of himself for a few moments before yelling into the smoky abyss that was the kitchen. "Eleanor!"

Eleanor came prancing out of the room, lightly coughing. "Yes Dave?"

"When will breakfast be ready?" Dave asked.

"Soon. Theo should finish the sausages in a few minutes, and everything else is done."

_*End Flashback*_

I was frozen behind my rock watching as the world around me, the park and the city, were burning to a crisp. Suddenly a ray, whether on purpose or by accident, hit the rock. I was unaware at first but as the cold stone melted to lava oozing into a boiling hot liquid that began to engulf my petrified body and burn through my jacket I became very aware. Jumping to my feet, I began putting out a small fire on the back of my jacket which I soon realized wasn't there anymore.

It was then that I realized the tripod was still there standing where it had been before it torched everything that was within sight. It was a dramatic sight seeing this... thing from another world motionless... amidst a gigantic pool of fire that it had created. It was a tool of absolute destruction.

Regaining consciousness of the fact that everything around me was burning down I turned away from the tripod and began running in the first direction that looked like I might have a chance of escape. I was victim to a few careless shots of the deadly ray, but they all missed me thankfully. And to my surprise it actually began moving in the opposite direction. At least I'm pretty sure it did seeing as I had no time to look back to actually know for sure.

My mind was bent on escape... and I got it. To my pleasant surprise the fire hadn't spread very far yet and I was able to make it out of the park and into the parking lot where a few cars were road raging away like mad men were driving. Probably other survivors. One car pulled in right in front of me. The passenger seat door swung open revealing Otto at the wheel. "Hurry up, Alvin and get in!"

_*Flashback*_

It was a happy breakfast. Everybody had sat around the table, chatted about life, and ate their fill. "Okay, everybody you can be-" but Dave was interrupted by the phone ringing. "Hang on a second," he said as he turned around to pick up the phone.

Once he was in the kitchen he answered the phone and said, "Hello?"

All six of us stared at each other in anxiety. We look from Dave to the 'munk/'ette across from us, and back to Dave. "I understand," he said slowly into the phone. "When?"

He listened for a few moments. We all stared at him intently. Eleanor, Theodore, Jeanette, Simon, Brittany and myself were all eager to know what was going on.

"I can't it's too soon. ... What? ... She did? ... Very well, I'll be there."

He hung up the phone and turned his head and looked in our direction. "Aunt Jackie is dead," he said, "They want me to be there at her funeral tonight so I need to go pack."

"Dave," Theo asked, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going Maryland Theodore."Answered Dave

_*End Flashback*_

"ALVIN!" I snapped out of my trance and realized there were dozens of tripods running around torching Everything. My eyes focused back on Otto who was still motioning for me to get into the old van. Finally I obliged him by running forward and hopping into the passenger seat letting Otto, being almost as big as Dave, close the door behind me.

I looked all around the inside of the van, at the other passengers. I saw Theo, Ellie, Simon, Jeanette, Charlene,and Brittany. Everybody was here. "Wait!" I exclaimed just as Otto put the keys in the ignition. "What about Stormy?"

"She's alright, she's back home!" he answered, yelling because the panicked commotion outside so loud.

"Well, shouldn't we go back for her?" Ellie chipped in.

"No way!" Charlene objected abruptly. "Floor it, Otto!"

"Right! Here we go!" He turned the keys in the ignition and floored the gas pedal. The van was away from the blazing park in a matter of moments. But there were more problems on the way...

**Please review! Reviews mean a lot to me.**

**Confused? I'm doing my back story in flashback. Each chapter will be about a different character. You know, kind of like that show Lost.**

**And if my description of my tripods was also a little confusing, which I'm pretty sure it was, then I'm sorry because it was an originaly design that I spent days thinking up. This is the closest design I could find online, but it's not the same. encrypted-tbn1. google images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQZigALAwi9 _phqcCDz9CQxZQfpE6Uh0vM_ tReCDuE1jshLO2E7Bg remove the spaces.**

**Peace! Me outtie!**


	2. Hornet's Nest

**Hi guys! I'm back with chapter two of my story (the real chapter two.) The chipmunks and chipettes are in the van but they now have to escape the city without being zapped to a crisp by the heat rays. Read and Review!**

**Chapter two: The Hornet's Nest**

_Otto's POV_

The next second we were on the free way, zipping by building after crumbling building. The city had fallen to absolute ruin, creating complete chaos around us. Debris raining down from the collapsing skyscrapers was slamming into the ground all around us, and it was very difficult to dodge the falling pieces. Sometimes a whole thirty story building would start toppling and it would just barely miss us. Going around these was extremely difficult because I could barily manage to see what was right in front of us. Fire had engulfed every single building that was still standing, and it took all I had to just keep going and hope we would find a way out.

"So where am I heading?" I called back to the others.

"We'll figure that out later," Simon replied, "but for now I suggest we just get out of this city."

"I'll try," I yelled back, "but I don't know if this is the right road. And I can't get off because every b-"

"LOOK OUT!" Eleanor screamed.

I looked forward and saw a giant metal tripod leg suddenly land right in front of us. "DAMMIT!" I screamed as I jerked the wheel to the left, barely avoiding the leg with a screech and as I saw through the sunroof bringing us directly under the tripod. It was so massive! Everything around us was now dark from the shade, creating an interesting contrast from before when everything made me cough and watery eyed due to the fact that every living or not thing was on fire.

_*Flashback*_

"I'm sorry Dave, but I just can't," I said, holding the phone to my ear.

"Look Otto, everyone else either said they're booked or they won't do it. I need you to do this. My plane leaves in like two hours. I'll pay you... three hundred dollars a day."

"Look, Dave I'm not interested in more money. I have a sh- crap load of things to worry about on my own here. My senior project, my real job, my college application, what about all of those things Dave?"

"LOOK OTTO!" Dave boomed back. "I HAVE A PLANE I NEED TO CATCH. MY AUNT JUST DIED, AND I NEED TO GET TO HER FUNERAL TO DELIVER A VERY IMPORTANT SPEECH! JUST PLEASE DO THIS!"

I swallowed. "Okay," I sighed.

_*End Flashback*_

Suddenly another giant metal leg lifted off the ground and began hovering into our path. I floored the gas pedal, speeding up just enough to avoid being hit and pushed over. In a few seconds we were back in the real world... not under the tripod. But instead of going the way it was apparently walking, it stopped and began zapping our surroundings with the deadly green heat ray. _'Probably trying to get us?"_ I thought. I tried to zigzag, break, and speed up randomly in order to confuse it but each time it shot it got closer and closer to hitting us, and the pavement all around us was just melting into lava before our eyes.

Now the tripod shot a few yards in front of us. I jerked to the right to avoid the boiling magma that was once pavement. We did but at the cost of time. The tires screeching and left sickening marks on the road behind us. I tried to get us back on course but we had spun out of control. We turned and turned until we were driving straight towards a burning building.

The sudden shock paralyzed my body just long enough to let us stay straight and crash into and through the front porch. Just as we did, the building began coming down on top of us, but because the fire had weakened it so much we were able to drive through as large chunks of smoldering wood crashed into the melting tile kitchen or whatever floor we were driving over.

Finally we crashed through the back door and were embraced with the outside world once again. But we were on a completely different road. It was still paved, but it was only two lanes and curved.

"Where are we?" Alvin yelled.

"I dunno, but it looks like some kind of exit!" I yelled back. It was still really loud out there. Buildings were still toppling like jenga pieces.

I hadn't thought about how tragic and dramatic the scene had been. I could only think clearly enough to steer left or right when I needed to. I though about all of the hard work that was put into all of those buildings. Some were even built a long time ago, before our modern technology. It must have taken a fortune and years to build. And then these tripods just took a few minutes to push them over and kill everyone inside in the making.

"Hey Otto, look, there's another car!" Brittany yelled pointing through the windshield and at a smaller car that was going relatively slow, allowing us to catch up to it.

_*Flashback*_

The second I pulled up my tiny old Ford into the driveway carrying my lonely little worn suitcase, Dave was sprinting out the door carrying his two large suitcases and the keys to his convertible. "They have a concert in a few hours," he said as he sped past me. "Just make sure they eat right and make sure they get to bed before morning. You can do whatever you want as long as you don't burn my house down." He chuckled at the thought. "Now, I have to go."

"I still don't think it's fair Dave!" Alvin chipped in. "He's a year younger than us! We shouldn't have to have a babysitter!"

"You need someone to drive you around places!" Dave replied. "Please don't argue, Alvin. Just do it, please?"

Alvin grumbled in unwilling cooperation. "Okay."

I turned to Dave. "Don't worry about a thing, Dave. I'll take great care of them. When you come home, they won't have a scratch on their heads. I promise."

Dave nodded thankfully. "Now, I have a plane to catch." And just like that he got into his car, shut the door, turned the engine on, and in a few seconds was gone.

I turned to the chipmunks and chipettes who were all just staring at me. "So," I said, "I guess we better start getting ready for that concert, huh?"

_*End Flashback*_

As we drew nearer and nearer I pulled up to the right of them. They rolled down a window, revealing a forty year old man in the driver's seat and a girl about my age in the passenger seat. She stuck her head out the window and waved to me. "Hi!"

"Hi!" I replied as loud as I could, hoping she would hear me.

"Can we help you?" she asked (well, more like screamed,but who could blame her though? The only thing you could really hear was buildings falling to the ground while the people inside were screaming in their final moments.)

"Yeah," I replied, "Do you know the quickest route out of the city? We kind of want to get away from all of the death, tripods, and fire."

"Sure! Just keep following this road. Soon there will be a sign saying "Exit 13." Take that and you'll be out of the city in a matter of minutes. We're heading that way too. Say, do you wanna come with u-"

In the blink of an eye the car vanished as a tripod leg squashed the car like a bug under its weight, killing her and the old guy. I guess I wasn't sad or anything but I was shocked. It was all I could do to keep my eyes forward and focus on the road as we were going over eighty miles per hour. The tripod behind us threw a careless and lazy shot of the heat ray a few feet to our left and then moved on.

"What was she saying?" Theodore asked.

"She said just keep taking this road until we see a sign that says 'Exit 13.' We take it and we'll be out of the city in a couple minutes."

"Oh good," he replied.

And it was, because we had no trouble reaching the exit and even less trouble on it. Soon enough we were perfectly clear of the city and the hell that it had become and in a beautiful wooded area that thankfully had no sign of tripods... at least just yet. Even with all the distance between us and the city we could still hear the screams of people and buildings collapsing. When I looked at the rear view mirror I could see that the sky around the city was glowing orange from all the intensity of the fire that had engulfed it.

"Now where should we be going Simon?" I asked.

"Well we need to find some shelter that isn't likely to have any of those tripod things around it, so the more secluded the better" Answered Simon.

I nodded. "There's probably a cave or something somewhere around here. Keep your eyes peeled guys!"

I turned on the radio to drown out the sounds of the city as we drove away looking for a shelter.

**And that was chapter two! Hope you enjoyed it and I look forward to giving you chapter three!**


	3. What to Do? (Part 1)

**This is chapter three of my War of the Worlds story. Enjoy! (Oh and by the way, this chapter may drag a little because there are going to be dramatic plot points revealed that are crucial to the story.)**

**Starting from now on I will be endorsing my top favorite reviewers on the top of each chapters and telling people to read their stories.**

**Chapter three: What to Do? (Part 1)**

_Charlene's POV:_

The buzz of static echoed through the car as Otto turned the radio on. I wasn't paying much attention as he turned the knob listening for a broadcasting channel, but when I heard the voice of Sharrol Girty, my favorite talk show host, my ears perked and I automatically barked an order for him to go back.

To my surprise he turned the knob back to the right until I could clearly hear Sharrol's relatively deep voice coming through the stereo speakers. We all turned our heads to listen to the gut wrenching news we were about to receive.

_"Reports are coming in from D.C. that all authoritative figures have fled the state and are currently residing in a secret location outside the East Coast," The radio buzzed. "There have been sightings of at least a dozen or more tripods just off of Vancouver, Canada and they appear to be heading 're trying to track them but we can only rely on distant satellite images because anyone or anything that gets close to these tripods hasn't been heard from again._

_"These alien tripods have been able to crush several large cities around the country without any resistance. Whether this cowardly attack on our nation is present in the rest of the world or not is unknown because close to two hours ago all communications with the rest of the world were lost. It's the same everywhere; once the tripods appear and start to move no more news or reports come from that area."_

Otto pressed the power button shaking his head in despair. "Don't listen to her guys," Alvin said. "She's probably just over-exaggerating to get a good show."

I shook my head in disbelief and said. "Sharrol Girty would never do that!"

Alvin turned his head and glared at me.

"Otto, over there!" Simon exclaimed, pointing outside the car. "It's a cave!"

We all followed Simon's finger to a large hole in a giant rock wall to the right of us. Since it was about nine feet tall and eleven feet wide Otto swerved to the right and brought the brown van into the dark cave. Once inside, Otto immediately braked, twisted,and pulled out the keys. "All ashore who's going ashore," he said to us.

Despite barely being able to see, the seven of us made it out of the van and onto the cold and surprisingly smooth stone floor.

"Is there a flashlight anywhere?" asked Jeanette.

"In the back," Otto replied. "I'll get it."

We waited around until Otto returned with a large beam of light which he first shone on us, then around the cave we were in. It went about a dozen yards deeper than where we were then stopped. There were a few more yards in between the van and the cave mouth. The cave floor, walls, and ceiling were all extraordinarily smooth.

"I'd say this is a nice place to stay for the night." Otto said, turning around and walking towards the mouth of the cave.

"Where are you going," I squeaked embarrassingly high-pitched (more than usual high-pitched.)

"Out," he answered briefly. "To get firewood. That flashlight's battery won't last forever, you know."

"W-what if the tripods come back?" I retaliated worriedly.

"Their too big to notice you in here. Just stay here, keep the light going, and I'll be back before dark." Otto stepped outside the cave and into the forest before turning back to us one more time. "And keep the light going so you guys can see."

And then he was gone.

Nobody really spoke while he was gone. There was the occasional cough, or awkward shuffle of the legs as we huddled around the light of burning flashlight. But for the most part it was silent. Finally, after what seemed like forever Otto returned with his arms full of dry wood.

"Oh, good, your back," I said.

"Yeah," he groaned dropping the wood onto the cave floor. After hours of pure silence the sudden jolt of noise made the rest of us jump. Otto stared us weirdly before shaking his head and moving on. "Hey Simon could you please help me start the fire?"

With Simon, the ultra geek helping, it took no time at all to get a good sized fire going and we were soon huddling around it trying to keep warm as the sun sank lower and lower and eventually set. I expected nothing interesting to happen for the rest of the evening, but I was wrong.

As I caught from the corner of my eye Alvin was staring down at the cold stone floor awkwardly scooting closer and closer to Brittany. It wasn't until he was right next to her that she noticed, and when she did she turned her head abruptly in his direction. They stared at each other silently for a few moments until Alvin smiled at her. Brittany just glared back and turned her head in the opposite direction. Alvin scooted closer and she only took a step the other way. It was really quite funny to watch.

"Hey Brittany," Alvin muttered cautiously.

Brittany snapped her head back in his direction. "What?" she barked sharply.

"H-how are you doing?" asked Alvin.

"Oh, I'm fine asshole. Just great. Never better. How are you doing?" she answered sarcastically

"Look, Brittany. I know you're mad and I'm really sorry... but-" Alvin was cut off

"But nothing, Alvin! You... you..." she paused to think of the right word, before turning away, her arms folded across her chest and her eyes closed tightly. "Screw you," she said to him.

It just so happens that I know exactly what this fight was all about...

_*Flashback*_

"We're almost there, miss," said the cab driver. "When would you like me to pick you up?"

"Don't," I said. "You won't need to pick me up."

He nodded and turned back to the road. We were in some sort of neighborhood.

Soon the driver was pulling over next to a relatively small white house. "We're here," he said.

I hopped out of the taxi and took a look around. "This is it?" I asked. He nodded as he grabbed my only suit case out of the trunk. "It's not very big. Are you sure?" He nodded again, handing me my bag.

He tipped his hat to me. "G'day miss."

I didn't answer. I just stared and took in the house that they apparently lived in. That Alvin lived in.

A few moments after the cab had left, an ugly brown van pulled up into the driveway. The doors opened and they came out: six chipmunks with clothes and a human I had never seen before.

Unaware of my presence, they continued to prance along in my direction, laughing and such. That is until Theodore noticed me standing there and pointed me out to the rest.

They stopped and stared coldly at me and I stared back. Desperate for a welcome, I smiled warmly at them. "How's it going?"

No response. They just looked at each other as if daring each other to speak to me. It was a sickening feeling.

"Guys, whose this?" The human asked.

They didn't answer him either. Instead Alvin stepped forward. "What are you doin here?" he asked harshly.

"I- I needed a place to stay." I said

"And why did you come here?" questioned Alvin

"I couldn't afford a motel." I didn't feel an inch guilty, even though I just told two lies in a row.

He looked back to the others, who just stared blankly back.

"Guys, I'm standing right next to you. Could you please answer me?" that was the human talking again, and he was starting to get real annoying.

"Otto this is Charlene," Alvin told him "We know her from... a long time ago." He said the last part while glaring daggers at me.

"Oh. Well, I guess she could stay. I don't think Dave would mind."

All of a sudden I liked this human. "Thank you so much! I'm sure we'll have lot's of fun, right?"

Awkward silence followed.

"Okay, well... where can I get settled in?"

"I'll take the bag to the place you'll stay tonight," Otto said taking the suit case from me.

Everyone began walking towards the front door, when I called, "Alvin!"

He turned to face me. "What?"

"Could you please come with me? I want to show you something."

I took him around the house to the back yard, and all along the way he was asking me what it was I wanted to show him.

"This!" I quickly turned around to face him and planted a quick kiss on his lips.

He looked shocked for a moment and staggered back. "Charlene, I-"

I put my finger to his lips and shushed him. "No more talking." I said as I leaned in.

He pushed me away. "No!"

I pushed harder. "Please, Alvin! You know you want me! It's just once."

He sighed. "Okay."

_*End Flashback*_

Somehow that tramp Brittany had found out. Don't ask me how, though.

Alvin and Brittany's arguing was getting annoying. The rest of us were trying to ignore it, but it was hard. Frustrated, I walked away and accidentally stumbled upon Theodore and Eleanor. They were just talking, so I decided to eavesdrop.

"So," Theodore said, "Are you okay."

Eleanor nodded. "I'm fine, thank you Theo."

Theo nodded back.

Suddenly Ellie spoke up. "Theo, I-"

He turned back to her. "...nothing." She broke off

"So, what are we gonna do?" This wasn't Theodore. This was Otto, probably trying to stop the fighting. "I mean, tomorrow. What's our plan?"

"Plan?" Piped up Jeanette.

"Yeah," he replied nodding. "For... you know, survival."

Simon nodded thoughtfully. "We should find Dave," he said at last.

**And that was the latest chapter! Stay tuned and don't forget to review!**


	4. What to Do? (Part 2)

**And here is the fourth chapter! BTW It is still Charlene's POV because I had a lot to say about her and her past and Brittany and all that and I had to split it into two chapters. By the way, still no reviewers. Please read AND review.**

**Chapter four: What to do? (Part 2)**

_Charlene's POV_

"Dave?" I asked. "Isn't he in Maryland or something?"

Simon nodded again and replied. "Yes, but I'm pretty sure there's an airport just three miles south of here. We could hijack a plane and fly there!"

Everybody nodded in agreement. Except Theo.

"Are you CRAZY?" We all turned to look at him. "What can Dave do right now? We don't even know if he's alive!"

"Theodore!" Exclaimed Ellie.

"Well, it's true! You heard the radio! We all did! These things are everywhere, destroying anything or anyone in their paths. I say there is only one place we can be safe!"

"Where's that?" Otto asked.

"With the military."

Everyone groaned, shaking our heads. "The military?" Simon spoke out. "Jesus Christ, Theodore! Are you serious?"

"Well, they have guns, and tanks and jet fighters, and missiles, and as far as we're concerned everything else is either stepped on or zapped into Kentucky fried chicken. Yeah, I'm totally serious!"

"Theo, Simon's right," Otto said. "Dave will know what to do. If he says go to the military then we'll go the military. It's going to be okay. I promise."

Theodore muttered a curse word under his breath as he sat back down. "It's settled," said Simon. "We'll leave in the morning." And we all went to sleep.

_*Flashback*_

"Okay, Alvin. Your ass is grass."

Otto and Alvin were the last two alive in a death match in Call of Duty. I was pretending to be interested, but I really wasn't.

Otto looked through his scope. There was nothing but trees and buildings. He took one step forward and all of a sudden blood exploded from his skull and stained the ground. His soldier fell to the ground. "Crap."

"Haha! Sniper rifle!" Alvin gleefully exclaimed.

Realizing the game was finally over, I jumped off the couch, ran over to where Alvin was standing and and engulfed him in a hug of congratulations. Just as we broke apart a felt a sharp jolt of pain fly across my jaw. I staggered back but regained my balance. Shocked, I looked up at Alvin who seemed just as shocked as I was. I suddenly realized it was Brittany who had hit me.

She pointed an accusing finger at me. "You stay off my boyfriend you whore!"

I wiped a small drop of blood of my lips as I smiled slyly back at Brittany. "Oh, you mean my boyfriend?"

"Shut up, you little-"

Suddenly Alvin stepped in. "Girls, please. Stop fighting!"

She turned to him. "Stay out of this or you'll get one too!"

"Brittany calm down," Otto said.

Brittany looked around the room, silently acknowledging the people around her watching. All she did was turn around, and sulk away.

I smiled smugly.

Alvin was staring at the floor. "I'm gonna go out," he said.

"Ooh, I'll come with you," I piped up.

"NO!" Alvin turned around and saw the hurt in my eyes. "No," he said a little softer. "I need some time by myfelf."

"W-where will you be?" I asked.

"At a store by a park. I'll just be hanging out for a while." And then he left.

"Okay," I said.

_*End Flashback*_

My eyelids flew open as I was suddenly aware of a faint hissing sound echoing of the cave walls. I looked around. I could barely make out a glimpse of daylight. I looked towards the cave mouth. A lagre shadow crept across the cave wall. The ear-stinging hissing sound filled the air again.

I crawled to the 'munk closest to me, Eleanore. I shook her sleeping body as quietly as I could. Meanwhile the shadow got bigger and bigger. I shook Eleanore harder and harder. She showed no signs of waking up. Becoming desperate, I punched her hard on the leg. She woke up with a jolt.

"Ow-" I slapped my hand across her mouth. She looked at me somewhat madly before noticing the creeping shadow on the wall. Her eyes widened. I could hear light sobbing from her as a single tear trickled down her cheek. I leaned in close and whispered, "wake up the others and be quiet."

She nodded and we crawled our separate ways. The dark creature creating the shadow finally showed itself from behind the van. It was coming inside! I could make out a faint shape. It looked about seven feet tall. It had three legs coming out of a single blob that I guessed was its body. This blob dragged on the floor as its legs dragged it along, leaving a trail of slime behing. It had one bug eye and a closed circular mouth below it.

It gave another snake-like hiss as it dragged itself closer and closer to us. Slowly yet determined. It was hard to tell whether or not it knew of our presense. But he was coming deeper and deeper into the cave without stopping.

Otto was the last one to wake up. Once he did he seemed to already have a plan. In the relative dark of the cave he motioned us to follow him. We did as he led us to the side, out of the way of the martian. The thing dragged itself across the smooth floor.

Just as it was about five feet from us, it stopped. In the dark we prayed it could not see us. All of us held our breaths, desperate to be as silent as possible. Sweat poured down my cheeks. Suddenly the thing lifted itself of the ground and gave an ear piercing schreech, which lasted a good four second. It set itself back on the floor and crawled on.

We breathed out. Otto motioned us to follow him again. As silently as possible we tiptoed with him to the van. We looked back to make sure it didn't see us. We couldn't really see it, but it didn't sound like he had.

We cautiously opened the doors, hopped in, and let Otto gently close them behind us. Soon he was in the driver's seat with the keys in the ignition. The martian was still no longer in sight. "Hasta la vista, beotch."

He twisted the keys as hard as he could. The engine didn't start. It revved but didn't start. All it had done was make noise. We heard another ear shattering schreech come from inside the cave. "Oh shit," muttered Otto.

We heard loud and fast dragging headed our way. Otto twisted the ignition again. It revved for a few seconds before Otto let it go again. The Martian appeared from the drakness right infront of the van. He seemed to peek inside. Eleanore screamed in horror. His body paralized from fear Otto watched as it dragged itself right next his window. It turned and stared at Otto. It gave another snake-like hiss and opened its giant circular

Otto screamed as he peered into about fifty rows oftwo hundred razor sharp teeth. Suddenly it swung its front leg back, and then flung it into the window, creating a large crack.

Otto turned the keys again. The engine revved. The martian swung its leg back again. One more hit and the window was through. "COME ON!" He broke into a sob. "Please." Suddenly the engine was on. No time could be waisted before Otto quickly put it in reverse and slammed the gas. The van swerved backwards for a few meters before turning around and heading back into the forest.

He peeked at the rear view mirror, which showed the martian on its feet again, schreeching. And we were too far away by that time to hear a thing.

He needed to clear his mind after that traumitizing event, so he turned on the radio witch went straight to broadcasting Sharrol Girty's voice.

_"The martians have overrun the whole city and now they're coming through my broadcasting building. I'm sorry but I won't be here much longer. We have just received this transmited message from the Hmilayes:"_

There was a man, probably about fifty, speaking some Asian language over the radio. He sounded hurt and scared. Finally the message anded and Sharrol was speaking again.

_"All that translates to 'God help me! The others are all dead! They killed them! They did unspeakable things to them! God help me!' And that's the message. And now I have a message to give to you: keep fighting. No matter what they do, keep fighting. This is our world and has been for centuries. And after all those years, all of that hard work nothing can take that away from us. Keep fighting, and God bless you. _

_"Now, I'll stay on as long as I can, b- OH MY G-"_

And nothing but static filled the air. Everyone had a single tear in their eyes. Otto turned off the radio.

**And that was chapter four! This is the part where you click that button that says "Review" just to be nice and give some feed back.**

**Until next chapter,**

**Stevenspielbergwriter3**


	5. A Stormy Night

**Hello! I am back with the fifth chapter of my Action/Romance/Suspense/Drama story. (Thank you! Thank you!)**

**Chapter five: A Stormy Night**

_Eleanore's POV_

Everyone was silent. After what we had heard on the radio, no one was really in the mood to talk.

All we did was stare straight ahead as we drove through the thick forest. We were in quite a hurry for some reason, and Otto kept the van at at leats fifty, despite the fact that tons of trees were around and we always seemed to be jerking hard to the left or right to avoid one.

Ten hours later we were going much slower.

It was a moonless, starless night. They were probably blocked out by the rain clouds, which were letting loose water like I had never seen before. It was like someone was constantly dumping a huge bucket of water on us. This rain was so thick you could cut it with a knife. And even though our head lights were on, you could tell it was nearly impossible for Otto to see where he was going. I know I couldn't.

He was on his toes. Even going at twenty, he had to be super careful. It was impossible to see a tree right in front of us until it was a yard or two away. Since the trees in this forest were about five to ten feet apart, we were always swerving blindly and aimlesslyto the left or right, desperately trying to avoid crashing and being stuck in this thick, wet forest.

And on top of that, Simon was so obviously lost.

He had said three miles to the airport. We had traveled a good 150 miles. But we were still in the forest, so it was all in circles. But Simon kept insisting he knew where we were going.

"Face it, Simon," I said. "We're lost. We've been driving for hours and we still haven't gotten to the airport. And is it just me, or is that the fiftieth time we passed that tree there?"

"It's a tree Eleanor. They tend to look very similar to each other. And no, we are not lost. If we keep going straight, we'll reach the airport in five minutes."

Jeanette spoke up. "That's exactly what you said an hour ago!"

"Okay, fine. We're lost. I have no idea where the hell we are or where we're going. But can you blame me? It's kind of hard to figure out which way we're going when we're constantly turning to avoid trees. Eventually I just lost my sense of direction and gave up."

Suddenly Otto, who had been paying too much attention to our arguing and not enough ahead, suddenly looked forward and saw a tree three feet in front of the van. With no time to spare, he jerked the wheel to the left and barely missed the collision by a few inches.

Everyone was paralyzed for a few seconds from fear. Despite almost flipping to its side from the sudden swift turn on the slick, muddy floor, the van straightened itself out and continued driving us where we had no idea how to get to.

"Let's just stop this thing and rest, Otto," Charlene suddenly spoke out. "I mean, it's not like we're in a hurry or anything."

"Yeah," he said, "actually, we are. See there are these pissed off things behind us. And these things are called aliens. And these Aliens have tripods. And these tripods have heat rays, which melt anything the aliens tell them to." He then looked down at the fuel gaug which said the tank was only about one ninth full. "You may be right, though Charlene. The gas tank's almost empty."

Everyone groaned.

"I'll just keep going a little while to hopefully find a better place to st-"

"LOOK OUT!" I screamed.

Otto looked back forward and slammed the brakes. Because right in front of us, even though it was hard to see, it was easy to make out: A tripod stood on its three feat.

We were both motionless; the car and the tripod.

Otto quickly turned off the head lights. Maybe it had not seen us. Though it was now impossible to see anything from inside our car, we knew it had not moved yet. After a few moments' hesitation, Otto opened his door and stepped outside, carefully shutting the door behind him. He took a few steps forward before we could see him no more.

We waited silently for a few minutes before he came jogging back. He opened the door and came in, shutting the door behind him. He was soaking wet. "It's asleep," he said.

"Asleep?" Alvin asked.

"Yeah. I dunno but it's like kneeling or something and it's really low to the ground. It's not moving, that's for sure and it didn't seem to notice me. I even banged on its foot."

"So," Alvin said, "What are we gonna do?"

"We're gonna get out of here. We're just gonna back up and turn around and drive in the opposite direction for a while."

"Well, can we put the head lights back on?" I asked.

He was silent in thought for about ten seconds. "No," he said at last. "We can't risk it. I don't know what could wake him up."

"But we can't see," Charlene protested.

"We can deal with it."

So he put the van in reverse, turned around to see through the back window, and gently pressed down on the gas pedal. The van slowly started backing up. Otto turned the wheel to the left, making us circle to face the other way. But he backed up just a few more inches, and he didn't know there was a tree root right there.

Just as Otto was about to put it in drive, we felt a big bump inside the van. "OH MY GOD IT'S WAKING UP!" Charlene screamed. "FLOOR IT! HURRY!"

Otto quickly put it in drive and slammed the gas pedal.

He forgot to put the head lights on.

We were blind as we sped through the thick forest. Trees were zipping by us everywhere. We swerved left and right, dodging tree after tree. It was impossible to see the trees until they were like four feet in front of us. We suddenly were going down hill and the next thing I knew all I could see was mud through the windshield. We had run head first into a ditch.

_*Flashback*_

This was going to be it, I knew it. I looked at my watch again. Thirty more seconds. _Oh god, _I thought, _why me?_ I paced around a few times before it was finally time to check it.

I pushed open the bathroom door, walked in, hopped on the sink counter, closed my eyes, took a few steps forward and looked down. The pregnancy test had two clear pink plus signs on it.

I stared down at them for a few moments before breaking into a sob.

_*End Flashback*_

We all breathed in, and breathed out. Otto opened his door, letting in sliding mud and not to mention pouring buckets of rain. He observed that the car was at an eighty degree angle. He tried to back out but it was too muddy and too steep. "DAMN!" He cursed as the tire spun round and round with no traction. He slammed the door frustrated.

"We're not getting out of here. It's just too muddy. It could take one day or months for it to dry."

"We can't wait that long," Theodore protested.

"I know we can't," he replied. "Which is why I'm going right now."

"Where?" Simon asked.

"I'm going to go out and find the airport. It should be somwhere around here."

"Otto, no. It's too dark," he said sternly.

"Then I'll get the flashlight from the back."

"A-and besides you'll need my help," Simon continued to protest.

"No, you guys just stay here. Stay right here no matter what."

Otto opened his door, walked out and shut it. Through the windows we could see him struggle to climb up the side of the muddy ditch. Soon he had reached the top. He walked over to the now practically vertical trunk, and flung open the door. Naturally water started pouring in.

Otto found the flashlight and also as luck would have it a little hand-held gun. "IT'S LOADED!" he called down to us.

"JUST SHUT THE DAMN DOOR ALREADY! WE'RE BECOMING AN INDOOR POOL HERE!" Charlene screamed at him.

Otto obeyed and shut the trunk door. And then he was gone.

And we waited for fifteen minutes and he still didn't come back. But after a while the rain started getting much lighter as the clouds above repealed. This also gave us a nice view of some stars as well as a half moon. This made it much easier to see farther out. So easy that all I had to do is turn my head to the left and glimpse out my window in order to see the approaching trouble.

It was a chpmunk. Just like us. Coming in our direction. I pointed him out to the others, who all had different opinions about him.

"We should go out and help him. He might be dying of hypothermia," Jeanette said.

"No," Simon said sternly. "Otto said stay right here, no matter what."

The chipmunks got closer and closer on his determined course. Soon he was right next to my window. He peered in with disturbing curiosity and looked around at us. And then he... spoke. "Ooh, there are some hotties in here," he said staring at Charlene. "Hey guys! Over here! I found some!"

Suddenly some twenty other chipmunks appeared behind him and ran to his side. They stared at the girls through the window lustfully.

Alvin gulped down his nervousness and stepped forward, addressing them. "Hello there! How can we help you?" he asked.

"You can help by opening the door and letting us in," the chipmunks we saw first said.

"Why?"

"Because we want them!" he said, pointing to Brittany.

Alvin looked over his shoulder to her, and then back at him. "Not a chance," he said.

"We can get in there whether you want us to or not. We have our ways."

Simon laughed at this. "No way! This van weighs thousands of pounds. The windows are thick glass, designed to repel rocks and dirt, like yourselves."

The chipmunks outside chuckled at that comment. "We'll see!" He then turned to his followers. "Alright, everyone! Back up! Come on!"

The chipmunks obeyed his command and began taking steps backward until they were a few yards away from the van. They then charged forward, jumped just two feet away then slammed into the back left side of the van with such a giant thud from momentum that it hurt my ears. At first we were all laughing as they repeated this over and over again, obviously starting to get weary. But then we noticed that the van's back tires were beginning to slide in the direction that they were pushing.

And eventually, it just went over. The back tires went over the edge of the ditch, bringing the back of the van to a muddy landing. It was now on its side.

After I recovered from the shock I looked up through my window to see a large rock getting farther and farther over the edge- right over the back left window.

My eyes widened in shock. "Look out!" I screamed. "A rock! It'll crush us!"

They all stared at me before looking up and spotting the giant rock. We all scrambled for the front of the van just in time for the giant boulder to come rolling down the ditch and smashing through the window, leaving I giant hole which the 20 perverted chipmunks were soon climbing down through.

Now they were the ones laughing.

They stared lustfully at Charlene, my sisters and I before saying to Alvin, "now hand them over, and we won't hurt you… much."

Alvin didn't answer. He simply put his arms around Brittany, who surprisingly seemed to kind of push him away.

"So be it," the chipmunk said

_*Flashback*_

I stared at Theodore from a distance, on the couch, reading a cook book. He always loved cooking. Wanted to be a chef after college. Now he might never even go to college. Oh God, I felt so horrible.

Before I began sobbing my eyes out, I took a deep breath and told myself that it wasn't my fault… it wasn't my fault.

I finally got my nerve together and approached Theodore nervously, my hands glued behind my back. "Th-Theodore?" I said quietly.

He looked up from his book and smiled at me. "Hey, Ellie. What's up?"

I took another deep breath. Alvin had just left the house after the falling out with Brittany, and everyone had sort of gone their separate ways and hadn't really spoken to each other since. It was my first real opportunity to break my pregnancy to Theo.

"I have… something to tell you," I murmured.

He set his book down and looked at me more closely. He could probably tell something was wrong. "What is it baby? Is something wrong?"

I stared at him blankly for a good five seconds. That word "baby" kept ringing through my mind, and I suddenly realized I wouldn't be his only baby for very long.

Suddenly the ground began shaking. A gigantic blast from just outside our house sent me flying across the room. I landed with a thud into the wall and fell to the floor. Quickly sitting up, I clutched my belly, nursing it carefully as the world around us shook like thunder.

I scanned what was left of the room for Theodore. "Theodore!" I screamed. No answer. "THEODORE!"

_*End Flashback* _

Theodore still didn't know, and now it looked like he may never. As the dirty, perverted chipmunks lept towards us, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore formed a protective half circle around us. It was just no use.

There were at least twenty chipmunks trying to get to us and there was nothing the three could have done. They were instantly shoved to the side as the rest of them were soon on top of us. I was fortunate enough to not have much attention from the bastards, (something I actually took a little bit of offense to) but the other three weren't so lucky.

Charlene desperately screamed for Alvin to help her, but he was helplessly pinned to the ground by two other chipmunks easily bigger than him, with his arms painfully shoved behind his back. It was the same with Simon, and it was the same with Theodore.

The only one who wasn't screaming was surprisingly Brittany. She almost seemed to be accepting her situation and politely allowing one of the filthy chipmunks to jerk her hands behind her back.

The leader of the chipmunk gang stepped towards Charlene. As he neared her, she promptly used her only free leg to kick him square in the nuts and continue screaming for Alvin who had clearly given up on escaping his captors (he even seemed to be annoyed by Charlene now). The chipmunk she had kicked moaned in pain as he grasped the area tightly.

"Stupid whore," he muttered threateningly. It wasn't a moment before he was upon her, beating, scratching, biting with his seven dagger sharp teeth.

Alvin was able to get a decent view, but unable to do anything. "Charlene!" he screamed as he desperately tried to free his arms. He had no success.

In just about thirty seconds the vicious attacker stepped up from his victim, a bloodied, disfigured corpse of Charlene. Motionless, and not breathing.

Everyone stared in shock as the chipmunk wiped the blood off his mouth, even some of the other chipmunks whom he had brought with him. "What'd you do _that_ for?" one of them asked. "She would've been one hell of a ride."

As if just noticing that all of his cohorts were staring silently at him, he shrugged and said, "sorry. I couldn't stand that bitch's screaming."

Still no sound emerged from anyone.

The chipmunk cleared his throat before pointing at Jeannette. "Okay, let's try her. She looks hot enough."

Jeannette began sobbing as she dug her face into the floor she had been pinned against.

The chipmunk walked towards her, chuckling, trying to get his followers back to their whooping and hollering and ruthless old selves again.

Suddenly, just as he reached Jeannette, a blast echoed through the air. We all looked towards the back of the van, where the noise had come from, only to see Otto crouching there, pointing his little gun at the chipmunks holding us down.

"Get off of them, you little Shit heads," he said.

While the leader of the gang seemed relatively calm and sly as the gun was now pointed directly at him, the rest of his little buddies were very clearly frightened. "Now, now. What's the gun for pal?" the chipmunk mischievously said to Otto. "We didn't mean to do any harm. What do you say you put the gun down, and-"

"Shut up you little bag of horse crap!" Otto cut in. "You and your little _friends_ better get the hell out of my van before I blow your dirty little brains out!"

The chipmunk gulped down the rest of what he was going to say, knowing that it was useless to try and bargain for maybe just one go with one of us. He simply nodded to his minions behind him who, groaning to themselves, let us go.

The Chipmunk turned back to Otto, smiling at him. "You see? We let your little pets go. We mean no harm. We'll just leave now."

And they did. As fast as they could, his gang scurried out the broken window and up the ditch side. The leader was the last one to leave. He suddenly turned to Brittany and, chuckling to himself, said, "sweet dreams, baby."

Brittany glared at him as he exited the van, being held at close gunpoint by Otto.

Finally the chipmunks were out of sight. We stayed on the alert for a good hour, waiting for them to show up again, barely talking or even breathing.

Finally Otto broke the silence. "Well, I think they took the hint guys." Suddenly Otto noticed that not everyone was present. "Where's Charlene?" He asked.

Jeannette looked up from silently staring at the floor and pointed to Charlene's blood stained corpse.

"Did _they_ do this?" he asked.

We nodded.

"I wish I could've blown those bastards to Kingdom Kong when I had the chance," he growled.

"It wouldn't have done any good, Otto," I said, "she would still be dead."

It was true, but I still didn't think anyone really felt sad about her death. Even Alvin seemed a little indifferent. Charlene had done nothing but cause trouble.

Otto sighed. "Yeah, I guess your right."

Charlene's funeral was short. No burial, no prayers. We simply laid her by the muddy ditch side and went back into the van.

Simon, finally snapping out of his almost hypnotic trance, suddenly said, "did you find the airport?"

Otto nodded. "About a mile North West, give or take. I'll take you guys there in the morning, after I get some sleep."

The rest of us nodded, even though we didn't want any sleep. How could we get any sleep after what happened tonight?

A few minutes later we were all doing our best to get some sleep, lying on our backs on the cold wet van doors. Suddenly I overheard Alvin's voice, soon followed by Otto's. I perked my ears for a better listen.

"I'm sorry about Charlene, Alvin," Otto said.

"Don't worry about it," Alvin replied. "There was nothing you could have done. I may still have liked you to blow that guy's brains out, but that's just because of what they did to my arm."

"That's all right, I wouldn't have been able to anyway," he chuckled.

Alvin gave a confused look. "Huh?"

Still chuckling, Otto opened the barrel to his little gun and gave it to Alvin, who quickly seemed to notice what Otto was trying to show him. "It's empty?" Alvin said.

Otto nodded, smiling at the shocked Alvin. Alvin in turn chuckled, giving the gun back to Otto, who promptly threw it out the broken window and out of the ditch.

I turned to look at Theodore, shivering on the cold wet van door, just trying to get some sleep. Suddenly he opened his eyes, giving me a jump. "Ellie," he said, "What was it you were trying to tell me… back at home."

I hesitated for a few moments, before saying, "nothing. I don't know what you're talking about."

I knew he could tell I was lying, but I didn't care. I just turned around, and laid down, trying to get some sleep and ignore Theodore's inevitable confused stare.

**And that was chapter five! Don't forget to read and review because my favorite reviewers get free endorsements as well as free cyber cookies!**

**Stay tuned for the next one too, because let me tell you: I have something REALLY shocking lined up for that one! Trust me when I tell you that you don't want to miss it!**


	6. Love and Betrayel

**Hi Guys! Stevenspielbergwriter02 here with chapter six of my romance epic starring Alvin and Brittany. By the way my fav reviewer of my last chapter was Pokemon Ranger-Trainer! Please read and review his stories! (The one I read myself was really good.)**

**Just a heads up, what happens in this chapter will TOTALLY blow your mind. As in, I'm hoping you won't even be able to believe what happens.**

**Chapter 6: Love and Betrayal**

_Simon's POV_

My eyes snapped open. I thought I had felt something shaking me, and it gave me a little jump. What I found instead was Jeanette resting in my arms. She must have been tossing in her sleep. Who could blame her?

What happened last night was a hellish experience which will leave a lasting scar on all of us, especially the girls. The thought of what almost happened to them was almost too much to bear.

I found myself in regret. It was now that I realized I hadn't really paid much attention to her before all this. Before the war.

Hell, if I had just listened to her the day it all broke out, we might have been able to get out of the city a lot easier.

_*Flashback*_

I was working in my lab that day, a few hours before that breakfast where Dave got the phone call. I had just tested a cancer treatment experiment of mine on a toad I had captured in our yard. It went well for me, not so well for the toad. I felt sorry for the eyes and limbs that I had blown off, but at least the medicine did work a little.

Suddenly my sweat Jeanette, who had been on her homemade laptop a few yards away, called me over to her.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Something I think you should see," she replied.

I groaned, taking off my safety goggles. Soon I was by her side and looking at the monitor.

"It's the satellite experiment I launched a few years ago," she said, "remember?"

I nodded, smirking at her mockingly. "You still check this thing, after years of finding nothing?" I asked.

I shrugged. "I guess I've just been curious. Anyway, I think I might have finally found something." She pointed to the monitor, which showed A large black screen with a sphere at the bottom right corner which looked like Earth. In a jagged line pointed towards the earth, blue dots surrounded by yellow creeped slowly closer and closer.

"What do you think it is?" I asked.

"Well, you see these?" she asked, pointing to the blue dots. "These are heat waves. Just thousands of little signal in a coordinated pattern enroute to Earth."

I looked closer. "You think they could be asteroids?" I asked.

"Could be," she said, "except they aren't hot, like a meteor heading towards Earth at that speed would be. They're cold. Three thousand below zero Kelvin."

I looked again. "I think you're little satellite has kicked the bucket," I said. "These readings are crazy, Jeanette. I'm sure it's nothing."

"But-"

"Don't worry about it. Seriously."

She sighed, took one more uncertain look at her screen, and shut her laptop.

_*End Flashback*_

I suppose it didn't matter anymore. We all made it out okay. Or at least most of us did. If someone had to die, It was probably for the best that it was Charlene. As harsh as it was to say, no one really liked her.

Suddenly Jeanette rolled over to face me, her eyes half open. "You're awake?" I asked.

She nodded. "Mm-hmm. Barely." She leaned forward and kissed my forehead. "Good morning." She shrugged her way out of my arms and stood up.

Jeanette looked around the van. Most of the others had slept near Otto, by the passenger seat, but Jeanette and I had slept closer to the back. As soon as we had both gotten up, we began waking up the others as well. Alvin and Otto especially were hard to get up, but in no time we were all awake, huddled together to try and block out the frigid morning air, which was entering through the hole in the window.

I asked Otto if he knew the way back to the airport. He hesitated, but after a moment nodded confidently. "Yeah," he said "I can get us there."

And it was settled. Without further ado, we pulled ourselves out of the van through the broken window and climbed out of the ditch.

We walked for what I'd say was about ten minutes, and just as I was beginning to doubt Otto, we trudged over a tall hill to see none other than a runway connected to an airport.

We all jumped for joy, cheering for Otto as well as for each other. It was the first time since this all started that we finally had not only a sense of accomplishment, but a sense of safety. Now all we had to do was get on a plane and fly to Maryland. We'll be safe there, with Dave.

Soon we had reached the airport's main entrance with no trouble. We breathed a sigh of relief as we hugged each other thankfully. "Okay," I said, "we should split up. Otto, you take Brittany and Jeanette around the loading bay to see if you can find any aircraft that hasn't been taken yet." I turned to Theodore. "Theo, you and Ellie look around the main building to see if there is anyone who might be able to help us, like a pilot if we're lucky." I then turned to Alvin. "Alvin, you and I will walk around to see if we can't find a fuel hose to fill up any plane that we might find. Okay, does everyone know the plan."

I was answered with hesitant nods. "Okay," I said, "then we better get going. We're wasting time."

We quickly went our separate ways. Of course, it was no coincidence that I had chosen Alvin to go with me rather than Jeanette. I had seen what he did with Charlene. I know exactly what Brittany was mad at him for. I knew he was in a sticky spot, and I was hoping to maybe give him some heart to heart advice. After all, what are brothers for?

_*Flashback*_

I suddenly heard a faint moaning coming from my open window, and instinctively I looked out and down. What I saw shocked me, but didn't really surprise me. A gold/yellow dress was huddled next to a bright red sweatshirt, and two furry faces were locked in a passionate kiss. "_Alvin…_" I muttered, shaking my head in despair.

"What is it?" asked a voice behind me. I spun around to see Theodore looking at me curiously.

"It's Alvin," I said, "he's out there with Charlene… alone."

Theo nodded. "I see. I think I might be having relationship troubles too, you know."

I hopped down from the window sill and looked him straight in the eye. "What do you mean, Theo? Are you and Ellie okay?"

Theo nodded. "Sure, I think. But I can tell there is something bothering her and she won't open up to me about it."

"What do you think it is?"

"I have no idea. Like I said, she won't talk to me about it. She seems to be avoiding me."

I nodded, deep in thought. "Just give her time," I finally said, "She'll tell you when she's ready."

Theo nodded back. "Thanks."

Just as Theodore turned around to walk away, a slobbering wet pink object knocked me on my back. Stormy, our Pit-bull puppy, was on top of my in a second. She licked and liked until my fur was drenched with dog saliva. When she finally backed off so I could sit up, all I could do was laugh. "Hi Stormy," I chuckled, "you like to lick, I see."

Suddenly Stormy noticed Theo standing in the doorway, his hands slapping his knees as he laughed hysterically. Finally Theodore saw that Stormy was staring at him and quickly ran out of the room, with Stormy's drooling mouth in hot persuit.

I chuckled again before hopping back onto the window sill. Alvin and Charlene were still out there, sitting on our back porch, making out completely unaware that anyone was watching. "Alvin…"

_*End Flashback*_

After almost half an hour of silent searching between Alvin and I, I decided to break the silence. "So, I've noticed that you and Brittany have been having some troubles as of late."

Alvin lifted his eyes towards me solemnly, then dropped them to the ground again. "How'd you figure _that_ out?" He muttered.

"I have my ways," I said, ignoring his sarcasm. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Alvin sighed. "Not really."

I thought for a moment. "You know, you've hurt Brittany in the worst way you can hurt a woman… you betrayed her trust."

Alvin rolled his eyes and continued walking.

"Alvin!" Alvin stopped, and slowly turned back around to face me. "I know this causes you a lot of pain, but I'm trying to help you. Brother to Brother."

Alvin hesitated, but eventually trudged closer to me.

"You _have_ to believe me, Si," Alvin said, "Charlene forced me into it. I tried to say no, but she just…"

"I understand temptation, Alvin. But you still gave in."

"But I really am sorry!"

"Alvin… trust isn't something you just earn back. You need to prove to Brittany that you really are sorry."

"But how? She won't even speak to me. She won't even look at me!"

"I would talk to her on the plane. Approach her softly, and try to make her believe that you still love her."

Suddenly over Alvin's shoulder I saw what we were looking for: a hole in the pavement from which a large hose was sticking out of.

_Otto's POV_

We still hadn't found a plane. Not one. I had a feeling that the girls were beginning to lose hope, but not me. I was still confident that we were going to fly out of this place.

None of us had spoken. Jeanette and I both knew that Brittany needed some quiet time.

"Do you think any of the others found anything?" Jeanette finally asked, breaking the awkward silence.

"No, probably not," I replied.

"Jeanette," Brittany said, "what happens if we don't find a plane. What will we do?"

Jeanette thought for a moment, but after about four seconds she had nothing to say.

"Don't worry about that, Brittany," I said, "we'll find something out here."

"Then why haven't we? It's an airport, afterall."

"All right, I'll tell you what," I said. "Five dollars says we find a plane within the next five minutes."

She looked me up and down before saying, "It's a deal."

I smiled at her. "Then you owe me five dollars. Just take a look to your left."

Both Jeanette and Brittany looked in the direction I was pointing. Sure enough, a small 18 passenger jet was sitting about one hundred yards away.

The girls screamed with joy, Brittany forgetting all about the bet she had lost. Honestly, I sort of had too.

It was just a minute before we had reached the jet. "Otto," Jeanette said, "I'm not quite sure this plane is big enough to fly us all the way to Maryland. Even with a full tank, it'll be a stretch."

I nodded. "Well, at the very least we'll talk to Simon and see what he thinks."

"I think it's just fine." Simon and Alvin gave us a jump by suddenly appearing behind our backs. "It will at least be enough to get us off the West Coast and wherever we have to land we could either refuel or find a new plane."

We all agreed. With teamwork, it wasn't long before we had gotten into the plane (with the keys fortunately inside) and managed to hook the fuel hose up to our tank. It took a while for the tank to fill up, but after exactly one hour since we had reached the airport, we had a plane with a full fuel tank.

It was about now that we realized we hadn't seen Theo or Ellie in a while.

_Theodore's POV_

An hour and we still hadn't found anybody. Even any of the others. For an hour it was just me and Eleanor. We poked around corners, looked through hallways. The place was a ghost town.

Something was still bothering Ellie. I could tell.

Just as I was about to ask her one last time what the matter was, she said, "Theo?"

I stopped and said, "yeah, Ellie?"

"Th- there's something I need to tell you…"

I was starting to get nervous.

"…I should have told you a while ago," she continued, "but I was scared.

I stared intently at her.

"Theodore… I'm pregnant."

I stood there. Shocked. Happy. Confused.

Suddenly a jolt knocked both of us down. We looked up, around. We finally saw someone. He darted from one desk to another, screaming, yelling, cursing.

He finally turned to face us, halting his hysteria for one second. He was crying.

"Sir," Eleanor said, "what is it?"

He stared at us blankly for a second. "They're coming."

We stared back. Suddenly the heat from an explosion several yards behind us rocketed us forward. We quickly got up and sprinted behind a big desk next to a boarding terminal. The man, who was clearly panicked and confused, followed suit. He smashed behind a desk and began sputtering out prayers of repentance.

I put my finger over my lips. He just got louder. Something was heading this way! I tried mouthing the words "shut up" to him but he continued. Finally I gave up and pulled Eleanor closer to me. Whatever was out there was getting much closer.

I looked back to the man, who I now noticed had a pilot's uniform on. He suddenly stopped praying. Both of us were now noticing how quiet everything had gotten. He slowly sat up, not daring to make a sound. Hesitantly he poked his head over his desk to look around. In a second he was gone.

A giant metal claw attached to a tentacle arm was all I saw. It grabbed onto his head with great force, certainly crushing all necessary bones. It dragged his corpse over the desk and crashing out a closed window.

I slapped my hand over Eleanor's mouth to keep her from screaming. For five seconds we sat there motionless, barely breathing. Suddenly I saw a small metal tentacle inching it's way around Eleanor's leg.

"Hold onto me," I whispered.

She looked at me, confused, before being whipped onto her back and being dragged towards the hole in the window, me dragging behind her. This long tentacle was strong. As we neared the window we could see the tripod it was attached to. Soon Eleanor was hovering in the air. Just as she was pulled screaming through the hole in the window, I jammed my feet into the window sill, temporarily halting its progress.

I looked deep into Eleanor's sobbing eyes as the tentacle pulled harder. "Theodore I love you!" she cried.

I let out a tear. "Hold onto me."

Her hands began slipping. The tripod seemed to be pulling harder every second, and it took all of my strength to not give in. Suddenly out of the corner of my eye I saw a miracle: a plane rolling our way! And in its cockpit none other than Otto and Simon!

_Simon's POV_

Nothing but screaming. All I could hear was "WE CAN'T LEAVE THEM BEHIND!" I was in a tough position. What would anyone have expected me to do? We had no idea where they were and tripods were closing in on the airport FAST! For miles the radar read hundreds of tripods heading our way. We needed to get out quickly, for the sake of the greater good.

As I was directing Otto, our pilot, to the runway, he suddenly yelled "LOOK!"

I turned to the direction he was pointing. It was Theo and Ellie in trouble. Looked like a tug of war for Eleanor between Theodore and the tripod. I could see him doing his best to signal us while still holding on to Ellie, as we slowly rolled towards the runway. Surprisingly the tripod seemed not to notice us.

"What do we do?" Otto asked.

We were so close now that I could look right into Theodore's eyes, and I saw the extreme hurt in them as he realized we weren't stopping.

I turned to Otto. "We have to keep going to the runway. It's for the best of the rest of us."

Otto hesitated but nodded and stayed his course. I turned around one more time to really quickly see my brother… for the last time.

_Theodore's POV_

"No," I sobbed, "no."

"What is it?" Eleanore gasped. Surely all this pressure was taking a toll on her body.

"Nothing," I gasped back through extreme sweat, "I'm going to get you."

"Theodore," she said.

I looked into her eyes.

"You would have made a great father."

I was mentally paralyzed and confused for just a split second, and that was unfortunately all it took. She was ripped screaming out of my sweaty hands and unfortunately that was all it took. "Ellie!" I yelled as she was shoved through a small hole in the bottom of the tripod. I never saw her again.

_Simon's POV_

The yelling was louder than before. Some of them had decided to look out the right side window, only to see the situation between Theodore, Eleanor and the tripod, and got a little angry when they saw that we weren't turning around.

It was actually hard to direct Otto on how to take off, it was so loud. Another part of the difficulty would be that I didn't really know exactly what I was doing. I had read a book or two on the subject of Aviation, but I was no pilot.

Suddenly through the cockpit window we could see a large metal machine with three legs approaching us fast on the other side of the runway. "Screw pilot school," Otto muttered, quickly beginning to crank up the engines.

Suddenly another thing appeared through the cockpit glass: a little green jacket scurrying across the runway waving its arms. "Theodore," I whispered.

Otto didn't wait for my opinion. He instantly got out of his seat and darted to the main boarding door, which he quickly opened and dropped a large emergency exit net out of. Theodore climbed onto the plane as Otto pulled him up with the net, closing the door behind him and sprinting back to the cockpit.

There was no time to lose. Otto fired up the thrusters to maximum. Our little plane began to roll forward, slowly at first, then gaining speed. "Remember Otto," I cautioned, "you'll need to get to about 95 knots before you take off."

Otto looked at the tripod in front of us, then down at the speedometer, then back at the tripod. "90 will have to do, man."

I saw how close the tripod was and quickly agreed with Otto. We were at 75 now, running out of unblocked runway. Suddenly a green heat ray blast missed just behind us. 85 now. Another near miss to our right. Finally at 90, Otto jerked the handles towards him. The plane was in the air, climbing quickly. One more shot from the heat ray missed just in front of the cockpit.

"Holy shit!" Otto exclaimed.

Finally we were clear. The tripod was hundreds of feet below us and had already given up. I unbuckled myself and ran back into the fuselage to see if Theodore was okay. I found him in the back seat. "Theodore! I'm-"

"SON OF A BITCH!"

I was knocked onto my back a strong punch to my nose. I stood back up to see Theodore walking straight towards me. He was soon upon me with his hands grasped tightly around my throat. I choked and gasped but still was not let go. I was running out of air quickly, struggling to free myself.

**BWAHAHA! Yes! I have done it! I have killed a chipette! I have boldly gone where few fanfic writers have gone before! I…**

**Oh my GOD! What have I done? ELEANOR! WAAAAH!**

**Oh well, what's done is done. Sorry this one took so long to get to you guys and sorry the last two chapters were so long. Don't forget to Review!**


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